Sumo for Mixed Martial Arts: Winning Clinches, Takedowns, & Tactics
By Andrew Zerling
Forewords by Steve Scott and Stephan Kesting
I was first exposed to sumo wrestling by attending a tournament in Osaka, Japan several years ago, which inspired me to read more about this art form. It was obvious from watching the matches that there is a great deal of skill involved in sumo wrestling that is directly related to other martial arts, and I wanted to learn more.
Sumo is a deep part of Japanese tradition due to both its historical significance and its connection with the Shinto religion. In fact, most of the symbolism in a match is taken from Shintoism. At its core, the rules are incredibly simple. The goal is to make your opponent touch the ground with a body part other than their feet, or to throw them from the ring. Various throws and strikes are utilized to achieve this goal. Most matches last less than a minute, and many less only a few seconds.
Due to the lack of weight classes in sumo, it becomes absolutely necessary to develop a strong technique. Often, there can be a weight difference of as much as 100 pounds between opponents, so smaller opponents must rely on efficient use of leverage and have a creative game.
Sumo for Mixed Martial Arts
In chapter one, Andrew Zerling begins by offering the reader a thorough overview of sumo wrestling, including its history, symbolism, strategies, and how the sport is organized. He then proceeds to compare sumo with other Japanese martial arts and draws parallels between the various techniques. It is here that we learn how modern Judo, and thus Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, have roots in sumo, particularly with regard to takedowns and the overall physics of manipulating one’s opponent and formulating strategy.
Zerling describes and offers clear illustrations for the most commonly used sumo moves and does so with enough clarity for the ready to be able to understand and follow a sumo match. I recently visited a sumo stable in Tokyo, Japan to watch the morning training and thanks to this book, I could understand much of what was being trained.
Chapter 2 present various sumo case studies by explaining winning techniques employed by many famous sumo wrestlers. We learn how smaller wrestlers adjust their game to overcome much larger opponents, and we begin to learn about sumo strategy.
In chapter 3, Zerling show us the connections between sumo and MMA. We learn about how both art forms address the various phases of combat, though obviously sumo lacks a ground phase given that that’s where the match ends. It is in this chapter that we can begin to understand how a fighter approaches a match with regard to bringing their opponent into their comfort zone, whether that be the standing phase or the clinch phase. We learn the many similarities between the clinches and throws used in sumo and MMA, and how many MMA fighters learn from the physics and leverage that have utilized in sumo for many years. Zerling even shows us case studies from Mitsuyo Maeda and Lyoto Machida.
Chapter 4 presents a series of technical photos that demonstrate the techniques discussed earlier in the book. The photos show the author with various training partners in standard No Gi grappling gear and make it very easy to visualize direct application of these techniques to modern MMA or No Gi Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.
I highly recommend Sumo for Mixed Martial Arts
Sumo for Mixed Martial Arts: Winning Clinches, Takedowns, & Tactics
By Andrew Zerling